There has been a lot of controversy in the sports world about whether men's apparent physical advantage is on the wane. A look at the bulging muscles sported by some female Wimbledon champions proves that female sportswomen aren't the delicate flowers they once were - some experts have argued that women will eventually equal men's speed and strength.
But the fact is that men generally have bigger, stronger muscles. As Harry Brennan, an exercise physiologist at the Institute of Sport, says: 'There was a period in the Seventies when women equalled or broke more world records than men, but that was before the fall of the Berlin Wall.'
In other words, this was the era when Eastern Bloc coaches were feeding female athletes steroids like sweets.
'It now looks as if the gap is widening,' Brennan says. 'At a hormonal level, men have 10 per cent more testosterone.' Testosterone helps the body lay down more muscle. 'This is why men tend to be more muscly,' explains Brennan.
Still, if men are stronger, aren't women - with their smaller, lighter bodies - more agile? Apparently not. 'Agility depends upon the ability to decelerate and accelerate fast, and men - because of their larger muscles - will always have an advantage,' says Brennan.
But if men are stronger, faster and more agile, women are more flexible. 'Women's smaller muscle mass and joint geometry, and the difference in ligament structure, allows for more flexibility,' says Brennan. So, a woman could pick a dirty sock off the floor, no problem, while a man would have to bend. That's if he noticed the sock in the first place.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-562627/Are-women-really-weaker-sex-The-intriguing-medical-facts-settle-oldest-argument-all.html#ixzz3zb82SAPx
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